technician squeezing the fresh thermal paste compound on the top of cpu in the socket. the concept of computer hardware, repairing, upgrade and technology.
One common question I hear engineers ask about is if it’s better to have Mica/Grease or Sil-Pad products. Obviously, I’m partial to this, but I wanted to give some thoughts I had about Mica/Grease, and why I think it has its place, but why I think in a manufacturing environment it’s better to go with a Sil-Pad.
Problems with Thermal Grease/Mica Combination
Before I start ranting about this, it’s not necessarily the Mica/Grease combo that causes the problem.. But it’s more the grease that causes the issues.
- Thermal Grease is messy. When I was a kid, I was the kid getting the chocolate bar all over everything. Thermal Grease is the same way- except on steroids. THERMAL GREASE GETS EVERYWHERE. IN THE CONTACTS, ON YOUR PANTS, ON THE CEILING SOMEHOW!??! (its really not that bad, but it can be- you need to be careful with it.)
- Thermal Grease can be improperly applied because every operator is different. In a manufacturing environment, it can be unevenly applied. I watched three videos online the other day, about 30 minutes of instruction.. All had different methods of applying thermal compound to a transistor… then I watched more videos of applying thermal grease to a CPU/Heatsink, and that had all different methods. Each of these methods has a different thermal pad performance.
- Thermal Grease dries out, and pumps out overtime. Thermal expansion during the heat up/cool down causes the thermal grease to pump out of the application- in addition to the changing temperature- the grease will also dry out overtime. As you may have guessed, this is not conducive to good thermal performance.
Caveat:
With all that said, my genuine belief is, in the short-term, applied PERFECTLY, the thermal grease and MICA can provide a better result. However, when stacked up against reality, I think Sil-Pad wins everytime. You have to ask yourself, do I have a perfect application method, and is this product designed to work for a few months to a few years? If the answer is no- consider a Sil-Pad because I bet you are going to get better consistently, and better performance.
Here’s the last thing I’m going to say on this subject. I see a lot of blogs, info on the internet saying “oh, I tried a thin thermal pad and Mica/Grease worked better”- do me a favor and try a real thermal pad that you didn’t buy for $0.20 for some website- its likely you are going get better results.
More Information on Mica/Thermal Grease
NEDC die-cuts, and waterjet cuts thermal pads such as Sil-Pad for customers frequently. For more information on Sil-Pad or thermal pad products, please contact sales@nedc.com.